The concept of “sustainability” got a workout on Saturday, April 17th, when the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa in American Canyon hosted BATW’s “Earth month” meeting. Napa resident Arvis Northrup gathered four local panelists to discuss The Power of the Writer to Influence Sustainable Tourism.

Carole Peccorini RN, MA characterized Sustainability as “our humanity. We get very special gifts from visiting other cultures.” She suggested that a traveler go forth “as a citizen of the world.” Her most recent humanitarian efforts were inspired by a visit to Uganda, in particular seeing the effects of war and AIDS on orphans. “One orphanage had one soccer ball that wasn’t even fully inflated, yet the residents will sing, dance and celebrate life at the drop of a hat.” She showed a photo of Evaline, “a bright shining being” who, amongst others, prompted Peccorini to begin The Butterfly Project which provides college funds ($60,000) for ten Ugandan and Kenyan girls. When Evaline finishes high school she will join four others already in nursing and five in education at the higher education level. Peccorini said, “I think it’s a mistake to bring a lot of stuff [to a village] – it starts the materialism.” Better to follow the directive of Wilford Welch, author of Tactics of Hope, whom she quoted: “We don’t need your charity. We need your partnership to solve problems.” She can be contacted at Carole43@sbcglobal.net or at 707-996-2167.

Margarita Ramirez, Tour Operator and Meeting Planner, spoke on The Sustainability of Spirit. For many years she involved herself in projects in war-torn countries, noting that where women survived long enough, they became the matriarchs of their society. A propensity for interpersonal connection and deep desire to guide others into a given culture led her to develop Traveling Matters . . . Journeys Connecting People and Place. Her “hunger to help people find their roots, to connect to their ancestral roots, to make room for the spiritual and the emotional,” prompts her to gear group tours toward contributing something to the places they go. She eschews the term “taking a journey”, favoring bringing a kind of mindfulness to travel: “We create the path…you take the walk.” She fashions trips in which travelers are encouraged to stay in one place four or five days, absorbing the culture, slowing down if they wish, “setting their feet in the ground” and simply people watching, rather than sticking to a rigorous schedule of sightseeing and museum-hopping. She promotes immersion in cultures which are trying to preserve their essence, “so that people will say ‘I want to go there.’” Ireland, for example, despite the “Celtic Tiger” – the emerald isle’s newly technological society – has maintained its quaintness, evidenced in the pastoral, non-fenced-in countryside that visitors still very much want to see. Her upcoming tour, The Hidden Treasures of Tuscany, will allow for visits to hill towns, piazzas, art and architectural wonders, as well as to biodynamic farms, where growing organically – “not picking certain weeds” – is a topic worthy of attention. All this with deluxe accommodations and tour guides. Phone: 707-939-7638 or info@travelingmatters.com.

Architect Paul Kelly, who has practiced in the Napa Valley for many years, described himself as “new to sustainable tourism”, but by the same token recognizes his involvement all along in the concept of sustainability by virtue of his long-standing interest in architectural preservation. “Many historic structures exhibit green traits,” he noted, “they are inherently green.” To restore an existing building means making the most of its “embodied energy” – the labor, materials, and resources expended in its original construction. The intelligence with which most of these edifices were planned – when squandering natural resources was unthinkable – meant employing passive solar aspects such as orientation towards the south, big windows affording natural light, air ventilation (and therefore natural air quality), pleasing proportions along with a generally smaller footprint, proximity to a water source and other common sense features. Usually these structures were built close to the city center and now luxuriate in mature landscaping and trees, all making for greater health and productivity and higher desirability in the market. Kelly mentioned the restorations of venerable Napa wineries such as Beringer, Schramsberg, and Inglenook – steeped in history, surviving Prohibition – which remain perennial tourist destinations. Sustainability has always been with us.

Engineer Hugh Linde, who described himself as a top winery expert, presented a Power Point on Sustainability and Wineries which revealed some staggering statistics. “In balanced wine production, for every gallon of vino, 100 to 250 gallons of water are used.” More water than that is an unconscientious – read unsustainable – amount. “From an engineering point of view, sustainability means handing over the resources and land to the grandchildren in an equal or better state than when handed to us . . . the Greeks and Romans planted vines where nothing else would grow.” In a properly husbanded vineyard, carbon dioxide, essentially, is turned into wine. Naturally decaying vegetable matter – a process assisted by mixing varieties, roots, stocks and crops – allows this fruitful cycle to begin anew. Yet some of the modern mega-wineries, hellbent on profits, have no such vision of the simple equation; planting monocrops without buffer zones and applying chemicals throws the balance off. We were treated to distressing aerial photos of large waste water ponds and dessicated acreage in the Napa Valley. “Greeks and Romans tilled salt into conquered peoples’ land to ensure that crops could never grow there again. Watch out for salt [or its modern synthetic equivalent] in the ground!”

Linde described how great it is to see olive trees, old oaks, fruits in vineyards, and subterranean areas providing natural cooling. He lauded low-impact wineries where the proprietor understands every aspect of the business, not just the financial angle, or the agricultural, but the whole. He worked on the Quintessa Winery, which balances 74% of its planted property with 26% for buildings, lakes and trees, has its own waste treatment pond, re-uses its water and has a cave. Every winery has some kind of pilot project for ’sustainable’ and ‘organic’ going on right now. They’re running costs and looking at the benefits.” Sounds promising, and consumers who let those wineries know how much they prefer drinking wine that has minimal or no commercial chemicals is a proactive green statement. While the portrait he painted of modern viticultural practices was sometimes distressing, compared to others, “the wine industry is overall a fantastic one for the Napa Valley”.

Finally, a word about the hospitable Gaia Hotel and Spa, a visual breath of fresh air along the Highway 29 corridor, with its novel architecture, large outdoor marshland mural, swan-filled inner pond and drought-friendly landscaping. We were provided with Fair Trade Organic Coffees and a tasty surprise buffet lunch from their organic GAIA kitchen. When an establishment has gone to the trouble to achieve Gold LEED Certified-Hotel status, one’s curiosity is piqued – how, by what means, and to what degree? A quick check revealed that the bathrooms use 100% recycled content toilet tissue – now that’s attention to sustainable detail!

– Natalie Galli

(Butterfly photo © April Orcutt)

Chang, who worked in hospitality, found the industry wasteful. This realization and his growing consciousness of the environment got him dreaming of a hotel that used the best practices and technology for sustainability. Gaia is that dream come true. The word Gaia means “mother nature.”

The hotel is the first in the world to receive Gold LEED certification. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. There are four levels—basic, silver, gold and platinum. I don’t know if any place has achieved platinum.)

I found this description of LEED Certification on the U.S. Green Building Council:

LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

What’s cool are three monitors in Gaia’s lobby that track the hotel’s minute by minute consumption of water and electricity, and its emission of CO2.

Ben Bingman, the director of marketing, took us on a tour of Gaia’s sustainable practices. First off, the swans in the courtyard lagoon (in front of the pool) were hiding, apparently nesting and expecting little swans but not receiving visitors. The lagoon is its own ecosystem, using recycled water. Birds come and go; one troublesome heron actually gobbles up a fish now and then.

As we rambled along behind Ben, he told us Gaia’s long list of sustainable practices. Here are a couple I found interesting.

The sealants, adhesives and paints they use have low VOC. So here’s another Internet explanation for you, this time from RemodelQA:

VOCs stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. These photo-chemical compounds react in the air we breathe, creating ground level ozone (smog). VOCs may continue to react in the air we breathe for days, months and even years. These harmful gases are emitted by conventional paints, stains, solvents, and many more toxic substances. VOC related air pollution causes eye, nose, throat and skin irritations, leading to respiratory problems, headaches and/or nausea. Prolonged contact with VOCs can lead to liver and kidney cancers, as well as damage to the central nervous system (brain).

All bathrooms use recycled tiles and granite and the toilets offer up a one-gallon flush, but Ben showed us it’s a hearty flush; solar panels provide energy, and the lumber used is part of an international management of forests program. There are even grates at all building entrances that suck up dust particulates, keeping them from getting inside. These amazing Solatube Tubular skylights, which magnify the sun’s rays, light up the lobby, the conference rooms and most of the interior building during the day.

And the list goes on and on. But we chuckled when we saw the book Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore sitting like a Bible in every room. They appeared well read. Maybe Mr. Chang is gaining converts to his sustainable mission.

One great perk to Gaia is it the cost. Yes, it is 11 miles to downtown Napa, but its also miles cheaper to stay here, and the rooms are lovely. Typical rates off-season are $109 a night and on season $149. But then there are AAA and senior discounts as well as packages. Wine tours come to the hotel for pick up and, of course, there’s more.

– Sandy Sims
BATW Program Chair

The first listings are radio show podcasts generated from BATW press trips and functions, or interviews with BATW Associate members:

Holiday Season at The Westin St. Francis:

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_westin.mp3

Oxnard & Anacapa Island with Janet Flippen (BATW assoc. member)

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_oxnard.mp3

A visit with Judy Cronkite Director of Sales at the Embarcadero Hyatt Regency

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_SF.mp3

Hobie?s new generation ocean kayaks & Harley Farms, Pescadero (BATW San Mateo County press trip)

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_hobie.mp3

The InnMarin Experience:

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_innmarin.mp3

Things to see and do in Santa Barbara, with Shannon Brooks (BATW associate) from the SB Visitors and Convention Bureau:

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog081029.mp3

Other Podcasts of interest:

Los Altos resident, Len Rhode, SF 49er 1960-75

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_49er.mp3

Discovering Northwestern New Mexico

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_nmex.mp3

New Mexico exploration of Chaco Canyon National Historical Park with archeologist Larry Baker

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_chaco2.mp3

Salinas Valley Ag tour with Evan Oaks, owner of AgVenture Tours

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_salinas.mp3

Albuquerque, NM

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_alb1.mp3

A walk visit through downtown Dublin, Ireland with Sam Johnston from Tourism Dublin

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_dublin.mp3

Papeete Tahiti

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog070523.mp3

Eastern Cape, South Africa: Wild Coast Hiking

http://www.kcbx.org/mp3archive/wross1.mp3

Ziplining Kauai

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog080116.mp3

The following Santa Claus show won 2nd place, “Best Radio Show” from Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC)
A visit with Santa Claus in Finnish Lapland
http://www.kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog061220.mp3

Chumash Painted Cave rock art

http://kcbx.org/mp3archive/audlog_chumash.mp3

Roy Stearns, Deputy Director of California State Parks, speaks at the Jan., 2010, BATW meeting at Cavallo Point. (photos © John Montgomery)

Roy Stearns, the Deputy Director of the California State Parks, talked to BATW members about the California State Park system at the BATW meeting at Cavallo Point on Jan. 16, 2010.  After quizzing the group about the number of state parks California has (278 covering about 1.5 million acres), he launched into facts and stories about the parks, including: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, Great Valley Grasslands State Park, Columbia State Historic Park, Angel Island State Park, Año Nuevo State Park, Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, Asilomar State Beach, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Bodie State Historic Park, Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, Doheny State Beach, and Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park.

old friends Jim Gebby and Roy Stearns

However, before Roy could get to the other 265, BATW members hit him with the serious question: Will California State Parks be closed?  He said, “No,” to which the group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Disneyland has 25 million visitors per year.  All the private theme parks, etc., in the state (including Knott’s Berry Farm, etc.) have 50 million.  California State Parks have 76.8 million visitors a year.

Roy said the parks have $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance to do — this has been building up since the 1980s.

Diane LeBow warms up the crowd at the Jan., 2010, BATW meeting at Cavallo Point Lodge.

One proposal to fund the parks had been to close all parks that were not self-sustaining, but he said the only ones that do pay for themselves are the large coastal beach parks from Santa Cruz south.  Those can be full year-round.

Another proposal was to triple the park fees, but when that was done in the past, it reduced the number of visitors so there was no net gain in income — and many citizens were priced out of enjoying the state’s parks.

Another controversial plan proposed by the governor is to stop government funding of the parks altogether and instead to use revenues from a new oil-drilling platform (named “Irene”) off the Santa Barbara coast to fund the parks.

David Laws keeps the crowd laughing.

Roy said the California State Parks Foundation, which opposes the oil-drilling scheme, is circulating petitions to get a proposition on the ballot that would increase vehicle registration fees by $18 to support the parks.  Bonus: drivers would then get free access to the state parks.

He said that Sacramento State University recently did a 3-4-year study of state-park visitorship that showed that visitors spend about $4 billion in businesses near state parks, which makes a strong argument for keeping parks open.

Twenty-thousand people volunteer every day in state parks as campground hosts and docents and many other positions.  Roy said that it is volunteers who literally keep the trains running in the railroad museums.

Roy was very supportive of creating an East Shore State Park on the east side of San Francisco Bay near Emeryville.  He told a story of Clint Eastwood walking there and reminiscing about how he had played in that area as a child.

Roy noted that the state hires 600 lifeguards in the summer, making that the largest lifeguard force in the world.

He also called members attention to the October, 2009, National Geographic magazine with its lead story about California’s redwoods.  He said the tallest known redwood tree now is 379.6 feet high, but historians think some that were cut down were 400-440 feet tall.

While some aspects of his talk were disturbing (the amount of deferred maintenance needed and the “Irene” oil platform off Santa Barbara), Roy did seem confident that the California State Parks will stay open, and the California State Parks Foundation does have an intriguing plan.

– April Orcutt
BATW Website Editor

Walt Disney in the early 1930s (photos © Walt Disney Family Museum)

When Walter Elias Disney was born on Dec. 5, 1901, did anybody ponder the Sagittarius stars? If they had, they might have considered the Archer who represented the child’s sign: a Centaur (half man, half beast)  flinging his arrows (ideas?) in all directions. Enthusiastic, they might have predicted: overdosed with optimism; adventuresome, outgoing, curious, generous, exceedingly verbal.

earliest known drawing of Mickey Mouse

Certainly no one presumed the child Walter would one day create a cosmos of his own, complete  with ruling houses and planets; or that dwarf star Bashful was in Snow White and Pinocchio was approaching Mary Poppins.

By 1955, Walt owned his own Land in Southern California and about 10 years later built his World in Florida.  On Oct. 1 last, the Disney Family Museum debuted in San Francisco to detail the man behind the Mouse.

So the Magic Kingdom’s chief magician moved into a redbrick barrack built for the realities of wartime.  Given the exigencies of architectural conformity demanded by the National Historic Landmark District, I didn’t know what to expect. I needn’t have worried.  The place,  inside and outside,  sings in harmony.

The story begins where it should: in Gallery 1 on the ground floor just behind the award-filled entry hall through which I hurried, promising myself to return another day.  Here’s young Walter with his family photos, drawings, and other  mementos, the most surprising of which is the ambulance he drove (having lied about his age)  in 1918, after the end of World War I.

Generations of Disneyphiles who came of age with Mickey, Donald, the Seven Dwarfs and Dumbo cannot imagine Walt in anything but a success story.  Struggle? Why? Wasn’t he born with a silver spring bow pen in his hand?

Walt and Lilly Disney

Nope. Disappointments dogged Disney even as they have all other artists. But Disney had more than talent and imagination. His dreams came to him wrapped in persistence. In 1920, he and fellow illustrator Ub Iwerks formed Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. The firm failed after one month. Two years later, Walt gave birth to Laugh-O-gram Films, Inc., with $15,000 in borrowed money. The company produced advertising and topical shorts and story cartoons and went bankrupt within a year. Walt moved to Hollywood to become a director.

Gallery 2: Hollywood

Hollywood appears on the second floor, after a brief elevator ride, where Walt arrived in 1923 in to team up with his older brother Roy, a happy union of  extravagant talent with cheerful practicality.  When the Disney Brothers Studio landed a contract for a series called the “Alice Comedies,” in which a young girl filmed in live action interacts with animated characters, Walt began to hire other animators and to metamorphose into a master storyteller and director.  (The dance of real and imaginary characters in the Alice comedies – which I hadn’t seen before — struck me as delightfully reminiscent of the San Francisco Opera’s brilliant staging of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”)

Here in Hollywood (Gallery 2), we  meet Mickey Mouse (actually drawn by Iwerks) and Walt marries (in 1925) one Lillian Bounds who had come to work at Disney Brothers Studio as an “inker.”

In 1926, Walt Disney Studios replaced Disney Brothers and moved to a new building on Hyperion Avenue, later the birthplace of some of the greatest films.  The next year, Walt walked out on one of his characters, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, rather than lose his studio to distributor Charles Muntz, who was enforcing his trademark rights. Another unwary guy dehorsed.

Came the revolution, the talking-picture one.  (At this juncture, we have entered Gallery 3, New Horizons in the 1930s.)  In 1928, Walt – actually, the artist was Iwerks – created  Mickey Mouse, which was a bit like Johann August Sutter’s discovery of gold on the American River in 1848. (Disney’s own voice was Mickey for 20 years.)

Gallery 2: Steamboat Willie animation cells

The initial explosion of animation art joined to sound and innovative characters produced a cartoon hero named Steamboat Willie and Walt’s fortunes took off in a whirlwind. The Silly Symphonies, in which Donald Duck, Pluto, and the Three Little Pigs debuted, became the talk of the town – any town. “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” served as theme song for the Great Depression.

In 1933, a daughter, Diane, was born to Lillian and Walt; in 1936 they adopted Sharon, and before the decade was over Wynken, Blynken, and Nod  and the Ugly Duckling had joined the family.

Somewhere between Gallery 4, The Move to Features, and Gallery 5, “We Were in a New Business,” I began to realize the adults were having more fun than the children, especially those adults Of a Certain Age. The children accepted; they’d seen such wizardry all their lives: interactive imagery, two-dimensional beings dancing and singing as if they were round rather than flat, buttons to push and images that did their bidding. Adults recognized that genius was afoot: in the more than 348 enlarged drawings from a Steamboat Willie that blanket one wall and constituted less than a minute of action; in the display of images from a notebook that, responding to touch, document the “life” of “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.”

Gallery 4 shows off the pioneering of full-length features. Look! Right there! The Seven Dwarfs, each queerer and cuter than the last, march off to work singing “Heigh-ho!” with all the enthusiasm of childhood although today they are 73  years old: shy Bashful, silly Dopey, grouchy Grumpy, thoughtful Doc, rotund Happy, uncertain Sneezy, heavy-lidded Sleepy, Snow White soldiers all.

Next time their names are a challenge on “Jeopardy,” shout them out: two S’s, two D’s, and three emotions. Do their personalities represent the seven stages of cocaine addiction, as some ’70s spoilsports suggested? Bunk! I didn’t care when I was four and I don’t care now.

Curiouser and curiouser! In Gallery 5, a dandy and dramatic device called a multiplane camera extends down through the floor to the level below.  Wikipedia describes it thus: “(It) moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a three-dimensional effect…The movements are calculated and photographed frame-by-frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds – the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. (A variation) is to have the background and foreground move in opposite directions. This creates an effect of rotation. An early example is the scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where the evil Queen drinks her potion, and the surroundings appear to spin around her.”

Is that as clear as the Golden Gate Bridge on a tule fog twilight? The first such camera was invented for Disney by his renowned animator/director Ub Iwerks in 1933, although Walt usually gets credit for it, and indeed it may well have been his idea. Iwerks used parts from an old Chevy. (Creativity springs eternal.)  This camera served the studio superbly until 1989’s “The Little Mermaid.” It was rendered obsolete by the CAPS process used for “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” (The acronym stands for Computer Animation Production System.)

Let the wizard himself explain it: Google “youtube Disney multiplane camera” and in seven minutes watch Walt sum it all up.

In 1938, Disney Studios moved to a 50-acre lot in Burbank. In 1939, “Snow White” won an honorary Academy Award and an unusual one:  a casting of one full-sized Oscar and seven miniatures, stand-ins for the dwarfs. (Walt still holds the record for Oscars: 32, they say.)

Artistry doesn’t always  insure a boffo boxoffice.  “Snow White,” was a succès fou, but “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia,” and “Bambi” bombed in 1940-42 despite technology that preceded stereo and surround sound by two decades. Clips in Gallery Five startle the senses even today as we see the sounds of flutes, bassoons, even drums in a show of synesthesia created by Leopold Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra. While I watched a young visitor swayed delicately before the screen in a dream dance of her very own.

“The Toughest Period in My Whole Life” comes in Gallery 6: America marches  into W.W. II, half of Disney Studios is requisitioned by the Army, animators and Imagineers go on strike, long-eared “Dumbo” flies to modest heights, Walt’s father dies and he turns to propaganda and morale-boosting films such as the anti-Nazi “The Ducktators” and a “Blitz Wolf,” starring three pigs and a slavering wolf called Der Fewer. Wow! Who knew?

Gallery 9: model of Disneyland

By Galleries 7a and 7b, The Natural World, I felt a swivel of the senses, an exhaustion of the eyes, a failure of the feet, a muddle of the mind. Finally, at the entrance to Gallery 9, The Big Screen and Beyond, I suffered a serious stroke of imaginary indigestion. There, beyond a window wall, spread a truly impossible image: the pampered Presidio grounds, green as a studio sea, centered around one perfect palm pasted on a blue sky and backdropped by a Golden Gate Bridge flawlessly fake.

Clearly, the time had come to leave. I spiraled down the ramp, slowly so I wouldn’t stumble into the Lilly Belle (a train from the Disneys’ back yard), a red car that modeled for the Autopia, an 83-year-old Dick Van Dyke hologramming Mary Poppins, or any of the recreations of all the rides of Walt’s lifetime. Lights, cameras, action: I was stunned by it all.

Back to the first floor: I staggered out through the museum store and the café; on the lower level  I spotted the media and art studios and the theater where screenings, lectures, performances, and classes are held. “I’ll be back,” I said aloud to myself, “and I’ll start in Gallery 9.”

In Disneyland, decades ago, I had experienced a similar eccentric illusion. The Disney Museum is clearly the reality; San Francisco is the myth.

– Georgia I. Hesse

If You Go:

The Walt Disney Family Museum
104 Montgomery Street
The Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129
Tel: (415) 345-6800

Hours
Wednesday-Monday: 10:00 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed on Tuesdays, on Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving Day, Dec. 25

Admissions
Members: Free
Adults: $20
Seniors (65+ years): $15
Students (valid I.D.): $15
Children (ages 6-17): $12.50
Less than age 6: Free with adult
Alert! All entries are on timed-entry basis (every 15 minutes) to cut down on crowding: available online at www.disneymuseum.com

Getting there

Alert! The 104 Montgomery Street address is not the street downtown in S.F.; it’s in the Presidio.

From downtown:
drive north on Van Ness, turn left on Lombard St., continue onto Richardson Ave./US 101N, slight left toward Gorgas Ave. (signs for Presidio Crissy Field), continue on Gorgas, turn left at Halleck St., turn right at Montgomery

From 19th Ave./Park Presidio:
turn right onto California St., turn left at Arguello Blvd., continue on Arguello through Arguello Gate into the Presidio, turn left on Moraga Ave., turn right on Montgomery

From Marin County/Golden Gate Bridge:
head south on US 101S, go sharp right at Gorgas Ave., turn left toward Edie Rd., Take 1st right onto Edie Rd., Edie becomes Girard Rd., turn right at Lincoln Blvd., go left onto Montgomery St.

San Franccisco Bay Area Travel Writers and Photographers

our small blue planet Earth

At last the suspense will be over as BATW unveils the winners of 2010 BATW Travel Writing & Photography Awards and 2010 Planet Earth Awards.

Karen Misuraca says:

Don’t Miss the February Awards Program at Book Passage

The February 20 meeting (at Book Passage in Corte Madera) will be our presentation ceremonies for 2010 BATW Best Writing & Photography awards, 2010 Planet Earth awards, and Rebecca Bruns award. Guests are welcome, coffee, tea and cookies will be served at 9:30 a.m., and the many winners and their prizes will be announced.

There is no limit to the number of guests, but please RSVP online. Click for directions to Book Passage (you can get there by bus).

Click here to get to Google Maps.

When the date gets closer, please RSVP online via www.batw.org.

Book Passage bookstore

Walt Disney Family Museum (photo © John Montgomery)

BATW marked the advent of the festive season with the final meeting of its 2009 calendar at a celebratory luncheon on December 5 at the Walt Disney Family Museum, in the Presidio of San Francisco. Some 70 Bay Area travel writers and photographers were on hand.

Walt Disney in the early 1930s (photo © Walt Disney Family Museum)

The event was hosted by the Walt Disney Family Museum with lunch catered by internationally famous chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and wine service provided by Silverado Vineyards, owned and operated by the Disney-Miller family. The SOLO cabernet wine served at the luncheon was unique in that it was produced 100 percent from grapes grown exclusively on a special plot of land in the Disney Vineyards.

Joining in the spirit of the season of giving, guests donated a total of $417 to the San Francisco Food Bank. Program chair Sandy Sims organized the event. Janet and Stu Wilson coordinated onsite accreditation. Walt Disney Family Museum Events Coordinator, Jessica Blake was on hand to receive the guests.

Diane LeBow speaks to BATW members at 2009 holiday party. (photo © John Montgomery)

BATW President Diane LeBow, welcomed the guests and thanked the hosts for the generosity of their hospitality. She recognized past presidents — Patricia Lee, Bruce Whippernan, Marion Sanders, and Bob Ecker, who were present at the event. Diane awarded tokens of appreciation to outgoing vice president Laurie McAndish King for her exceptional services to BATW, including development of the new website and e-zine and to outgoing chair of communications Renata Polt for her dedication and commitment. The president outlined the achievements of her administration during the past year in enhancing the professionalism and technological progression of BATW. She thanked members of the board and other members for their support in making BATW, the dynamic organization it is today. Diane announced those who have volunteered to serve on the Board in 2010.

Georgia Hesse speakes to BATW members at 2009 holiday party. (photo © John Montgomery)

Georgia Hesse recalled her interviews with Walt Disney and his staff who revealed his penchant for everything being DP — Disney Perfect. Executive Director of the Museum, Richard Benefield, presented an outline of the concept and plans for the promotion of the Walt Disney Family Museum at the Presidio. He fielded questions from guests.

After lunch guests were invited to tour the museum, illustrating Walt Disney’s irrepressible creativity that enriched the imagination of generations. Shedding light on Disney’s remarkable life, the exhibits in a series of ten galleries pay tribute to the pioneer’s many groundbreaking achievements and innovations. (See article on the museum by Georgia Hesse elsewhere on this website.)

Walt and Lilly Disney (photo © Walt Disney Family Museum)

Exceeding Walt Disney’s expectations that he would “rather entertain and hope people learn something than educate and hope they were entertained,” the BATW year-end event was both entertaining and educational.  And, as the visionary perfectionist would have wanted it to be, it was DP !

– Lakshman Ratnapala
BATW International Correspondent

Actor Lorne Greene's Midcentury-Modern home and pool in Palm Springs (photo © John Montgomery)

There is a unique place tucked away in the California desert where modern architecture is haute. It is a place where a group of devotees of midcentury modern design is helping a remote town with a checkered history embrace the future while preserving the past.

Agua Caliente Indian dwelling near Palm Springs (photo © John Montgomery)

Palm Springs is a small town with a resident population of only 45,000, located on the western edge of the California desert. More than 2,000 years ago its first residents were the ancestors of today’s Agua Caliente band of the native American Indian tribe, the Cahuilla. They were hunters and gatherers living off the land, adapting to the extremes of desert summers and mountain winters. The first non-Indians arrived in 1774, heralding the magical transformation looming on the horizon of time. Today, the Agua Caliente Indians are still a vital part of the community. They continue to be a major force in the cultural and economic enrichment of the town.

By the late 1800s the sleepy little village drew pioneer settlers who came through the desert and created an oasis, leading the way for Hollywood’s glamorous stars to make “The Springs” their own little secret playground. In the 1920s and 1930s came the likes of Clark Gable, the Marx Brothers and even Albert Einstein who bought hideaway homes. Years later came a new crop of stars such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace and Marilyn Monroe having succumbed to the lure of the desert and the relaxing privacy it offered. Elvis Presley found his honeymoon hideaway here. But those who stayed sequestered themselves behind walled estates in magnificent homes boasting the town’s eclectic mix of early Spanish missionary and midcentury American architecture.

Actor Lorne Greene's Midcentury-Modern home in Palm Springs (photo © John Montgomery)

Today, Palm Springs is home to a profusion of architectural gems from that “golden age of American architecture”, Midcentury Modern design is curated in museum collections, coveted in home furnishings, and found in travel destinations worldwide. Its distinctive clean lines and bold graphics increasingly appear in advertising and entertainment and are savored by fashionable sophisticates throughout the world. The inventive and original, post-World War II architecture drew from newly available materials and the social and economic flourishes of the times. “Desert Modernism” has become a fundamental stepping stone in the architectural continuum. Architects of that era were often asked what they were thinking when they created the enduring designs, so enthusiastically favored still. Most weren’t considering their legacy; they just wanted to do good design or “real architecture” much of which is on proud display in Palm Springs.

Frank Sinatra's Midcentury-Modern home and pool in Palm Springs (photo © John Montgomery)

One of the most extraordinary contributors to America’s architectural lexicon, John Lautner’s body of work in Palm Springs is unique from a perspective of design, materials, siting and engineering. The Arthur Elrod residence and the Bob Hope residence in this desert enclave are among America’s most important houses. John Porter Clark , a traditionally trained architect, turned towards the new modernism embarking on “the design of houses more compatible with the design of automobiles”. His 1939 home is a corrugated metal box resting on pilings. Deep in a grove of eucalyptus trees it was sited to best command the broad mountain panorama.

Professional Park, a delightful and serene office complex created by Donald Wexler, is California’s first commercial condominium development. It exemplifies a continuum of good design that weaves profound connections from the past. Wexler is a believer in steel as an ideal building material for the desert and his “home-system” in Palm Springs is one of the midcentury’s most unique.

Elvis's hideway in Palm Springs (photo © Lakshman Ratnapala)

It is easy today to cruise around in search of the fun period of architecture in Palm Springs where the mild desert climate allow walls of glass, open carports and indoor-outdoor living. Houses with dramatic rooflines, innovative blends of materials and experimental trends of the midcentury, line the streets of this chic seasonal village of the 1960s, much due to the father/son team of George and Robert Alexander who built more than 2,500 single-family homes. It is safe to guess that more than 90 percent of the Alexander-style homes are essentially the same floor plan, in three sizes, yet one would be hard pressed to notice the similarity from the street outside. Each front elevation presents its own unique facade and combination of finishes. And, while they seem to be rectangular ranch style homes, in fact, the basic plan is a perfect square. The designer would “turn” the same plan on a different plot of land — and thus, a side entrance front door in one version, turned clockwise 90 degrees, became a street facing front door across the street or down the block, each bursting with new ideas. The Alexanders’ influenced housing throughout the country by hiring architects for their “merchant housing” tracts, rather than simply adapting standards or available blueprints as was common practice with tract building.

Primarily, Palm Springs seasonal homeowners were businessmen and professionals who took back to their places of permanent residence, the design innovations they discovered in the desert town. Anyone over 40 years of age, most anywhere in the world, including Sri Lanka, can recall today the “California Style” or the “American Style” homes that blossomed throughout the middle years of the 1900s..

Frank Sinatra's Midcentury-Modern home in Palm Springs (photo © John Montgomery)

Architect Stewart Williams’ residential work gives the distinct expression of his belief that the “environment is an important part of life” conveying his philosophy of bringing the desert into the architecture rather than placing the architecture on the desert. This philosophy is very evident in a home, the Edris Residence, which he deftly placed among cascading boulders in a humble union of ancient landscape and midcentury 1953 architecture. The site carries on as a safe haven to generations of desert plants, birds and beasts as much as the house is an elegant, gracious habitat for its human occupants.

Numerous architects were busy as the region grew. William F. Cody a visionary in the truest sense, was one of the most distinctive. Noted for elegance and a finely engineered “thin-ness”, Cody interpreted the modern idiom with daring and inventive zeal. Faithful to the ideal of “less is more”, much of his architecture is minimalism that skillfully challenges indoor/outdoor boundaries. The work ranges from a simple, sophisticated gas station to luxurious custom-built homes. Called “the architect’s architect” by his peers, Cody’s sophisticated designs are detailed and complex –  a rigorous, disciplined architecture with a genial sense of space.

Midcentury Modern design has been instrumental to Palm Springs economic and tourism renaissance as a desert resort. Its pure form and timeless values are being found anew in homes and fashion. Each February, the Palm Springs Modernism Show rekindles the town’s top tourism attractions with informative symposia and “retro” period parties benefiting architectural heritage preservation groups upon whom has fallen the challenge of educating citizens and city planners to preserve the unique heritage. It is a task on which preservation groups labor daily as property developers proceed with unwise and speculative development which has frequently resulted in the demolition or alteration of historic properties. Some properties have been “demolished through neglect” by financially strapped owners. Nevertheless, there is reason to be optimistic. Increasingly, Palm Springs architectural riches are being promoted by the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism to a broader audience of cultural tourists. Robert Imber’s intensive tours interpret the architecture to thousands of visitors. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Palm Springs to its list of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations

If You Go:

Palm Springs is a two-hour drive east from Los Angeles or a 1 hour 20 minute flight south from San Francisco. High season for tourism is January-May with mild temperatures.

What to Do:

To immerse in Midcentury Modernism, visit during Modernism Week, a ten-day festival in mid-February. The event includes house tours organized by the Art Museum and talks by architects and designers.

The Modernism Show is a weekend sale of vintage furniture and decorative arts.

Architecture buffs must not miss Robert Imber’s Intensive Tour. Reserve far in advance as tours fill up fast.

Do not fail to ride the spectacular Aerial Tramway which rises from the desert, in just 10 minutes, to a 8,500-foot mountain-top alpine forest with cougars, coyotes and other wildlife.

Where to Stay:

Boutique hotels and eclectic inns abound. The personality and flavor of these historic building shine through as guests arrive.

– Lakshman Ratnapala

Jan. 16 at 10 a.m.

Members Only

Cavallo Point and the Golden Gate Bridge (photo © Michal Venera & Cavallo Point)

While members enjoy the beautiful Cavallo Point setting, Roy Stearns, Deputy Director of Communications for California Department of Parks & Recreation, will talk about current state of California State Parks.  Jerry Emory of the California State Parks Foundation will also give a brief talk to compliment Roy’s talk.

Our Topic: The State of State Parks

Roy Stearns, Deputy Director for Communications for California State Parks, will talk about California Parks – the largest, most diverse park system in the country, with gems of natural resources and historic places (and a great subject for stories). By the time we meet in January, Roy may be able to enlighten us about the governor’s budget for California parks.

Our Host

It’s fitting that we will be meeting at the beautiful Cavallo Point – formerly Fort Baker, which was owned by the Army and was headquarters for 91st Infantry. Cavallo is now a national park and luxury hotel. Recently named as one of ten new American Landmarks by Travel & Leisure magazine, Cavallo Point is also home to Michelin star Murray Circle restaurant, Farley Bar, the Cooking School and Healing Arts Center & Spa.

Our Speaker

Roy Stearns was appointed to the position of Deputy Director for Communications, California State Parks, in May, 2000, by Governor Gray Davis. He was reappointed to the position by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2004.

Roy knows about finding and telling stories. He grew up in the newspaper business, working in the two weekly newspapers owned by his father. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism.

During his television career, Roy worked for KSBW-TV in Salinas, California, as a reporter, producer, assignment editor, news director and anchorman. At KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, he worked as a senior correspondent, consistently assigned to major stories. He served as chief environmental reporter, chief military reporter, and as a State Capitol correspondent covering the California Legislature, the governor and state government. He’s traveled to more than 10 foreign countries to report stories connected to California, including Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia, war in Central America, conditions in Russia and humanitarian efforts in Africa. In addition to all this, Roy served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, completing both active and reserve duty assignments, attaining the rank of Colonel.

Members Only — maximum of 50 members.  Please RSVP using our online RSVP system.  Go to www.BATW.org, click on “Member Log-in.” When the next window comes up, click on “login.” Type in your username and password there. Then click on EVENT LIST, then click on the Jan. 16 event. Finally, scroll to the bottom of the page and click where it says Register for this event: “Jan. 2010 RSVP.”

Click here for a Google Map to the Cavallo Point hotel.

The Frank House at Cavallo Point (photo © Kodiak Greenwood & Cavallo Point)

– Sandy Sims
BATW Program Chair